Monday 6 June
Serenity
9:25pm, SBS 2
M
USA, 2005
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor
What's it about?Joss Whedon's exuberant space western is the silver-screen continuation of his short-lived TV series Firefly. Axed by Fox after just 11 episodes due to poor ratings, the show's huge cult following (aka the 'Browncoats') summoned enough Internet force to get this movie greenlit. Featuring an awesome cast, some kick-ass action and typical razor-sharp Whedonesque dialogue, Serenity follows a wisecracking crew of renegades who agree to hide a fugitive on their ship. They find themselves in an action-packed battle against the Alliance, a totalitarian regime who will stop at nothing to get the girl back.
Monday 13 June
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
9:25pm, SBS 2
PG
USA, 1977
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr
What's it about?This 1977 classic of the science-fiction genre tells two parallel stories about alien encounters. After a number of inexplicable incidents across the globe, a 3-year-old boy begins to get strange nighttime visits. Elsewhere, electrician Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) encounters a UFO. Roy gets more and more obsessed with these visitors, to the frustration of his family. Spielberg uses cinematography, score and special effects to great effect to create an awe-inspiring cinematic vision, which some see as a personal reflection of Spielberg's broken home.
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri Garr
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri GarrWhat's it about?
Gattaca
12:05am, SBS 2
M
USA, 1997
Director: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law
What's it about?In the 21st century, genetic engineering makes possible the creation of biologically superior human specimens ("valids"), who then grow to positions of power and prestige. Would-be astronaut Vincent (Ethan Hawke) born the old-fashioned way, can only hope for a janitorial position at the elite Gattaca Corporation – until he buys the blood, urine, and identity of a perfect but paralysed athlete. A thoughtful, beautifully shot movie that poses important questions about the ethics of genetic engineering.
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Monday 20 June
Sunshine
9:25pm, SBS 2
M
UK/USA, 2007
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans
What's it about?A mission to save humanity becomes a mission to save it from itself in Danny Boyle’s dazzling, nail-bitingly tense Sunshine. It is the year 2057, the Sun is dying and mankind faces extinction. Earth’s last hope lies with the Icarus II, a spacecraft with a crew of eight men and women led by Captain Kaneda. Their mission: to deliver a nuclear device designed to reignite our fading sun. Boasting an incredible cast including Rose Byrne and Chris Evans, and with a terrific screenplay by Alex Garland (Ex Machina), Sunrise poses the question: does mankind really deserve saving?
Space Battleship Yamato
11:25pm, SBS 2
M
Japan, 2010
Director: Takashi Yamazaki
Starring: Takuya Kimura, Meisa Kuroki, Toshirô Yanagiba
What's it about?Space Battleship Yamato is based on the successful 1974 Japanese sci-fi anime series, which had often been referred to as the Japanese response to Star Trek. In 2199, humans live underground as a mysterious alien enemy has been decimating the Earth to unlivable and irradiated conditions, with one year until extinction. One day, former pilot Susumu Kodai finds out about a technology which could save the Earth. The crew of the space battleship Yamato set out on a journey to planet Iscandar to find it.
Monday 27 June
The Abyss
9:25pm, SBS 2
PG
USA, 1989
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn
What's it about?What is as mysterious as outer space but closer to home? How about the deep sea? That’s what the crew of an underwater drilling rig Deep Core led by Bud Brigman (Ed Harris) discover when they are sent to recover a sunk US submarine near the ocean floor in James Cameron's epic adventure, The Abyss. Considered a critical and commercial flop at the time of release, The Abyss is a film worthy of reevaluation on the basis of its technical achievements alone. James Cameron filmed the whole thing in an abandoned nuclear power plant and pioneered revolutionary, never-before-seen special effects - including the first CGI character.
Silent Running
12:35am, SBS 2
M
USA, 1972
Director: Douglas Trumbull
Starring: Bruce Dern, Ron Rifkin, Michael Gruskof
What's it about?One of the best science fiction films of the 1970s, Silent Running represents the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, the special effects maven responsible for creating some of the most groundbreaking visuals in film history. In this chilling story, Academy Award-nominee Bruce Dern plays a botanist in charge of sustaining Earth's remaining plant life in space who rebels when ordered to destroy the vegetation.
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri Garr
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri GarrWhat's it about?In the year 2057, Earth’s last hope lies with a spacecraft whose mission is to deliver a nuclear device designed to reignite our fading sun. Deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, the crew hear a distress beacon from the Icarus I, which disappeared on the same mission seven years earlier. A terrible accident throws their mission into jeopardy and soon the crew find themselves fighting not only for their lives and their sanity, but for the future of us all…
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri Garr
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri GarrWhat's it about?
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri Garr
Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffault, Teri GarrWhat's it about?
